Final approval in the works for Rainbow

Developers spotlight designs at open house

Developers of the Rainbow housing project have been busy this
summer preparing the site for future development of a residential neighbourhood
that will one day include 301 housing units. At this stage all of the clearing
has been completed, and work crews are busy sorting and composting organic
material and topsoil that will be used to backfill and landscape the area, and
using spare material to fill in the gravel pit.

“We’re trying to be very environmentally sensitive in our use
of material, everything we dig up will be put to use somewhere,” said Rod
Nadeau, one of the partners of Whistler Rainbow Properties.

At the same time developers are working to get environmental
notification for culverts they will need to build for local creeks, which are
dry this time of year. As well, they are doing some preliminary design work on
houses and duplexes.

Nadeau says there will be an open house through the Whistler
Housing Authority where residents can look at the proposed homes and make
comments and suggestions in the near future.

The housing units will be customizable to a degree.

“Because of the different topography of the area — uphill
lots, downhill lots, wide lots, narrow lots — there is going to be a
lot of differentiation in the homes themselves,” said Nadeau. “So we’ll have a
variety of houses to start with and then we’ll allow as much customization as
we can because at the end of the day these are people’s homes, and we want to
try to make it as good as we can for people.”

Developers are also working on the overall design for the
neighbourhood.

“Now we’re in the engineering, design and architecture phase,
which means we’re doing things like designing parks and shelters, trail layout,
bus shelters — we’re working on a cool bus shelter for the
entrance,” said Nadeau. “It’s a huge job just to build the infrastructure of a
subdivision, which is really our focus right now.

“To put a culvert in we had… to get a debris torrent study to
determine how much water would be moving through the culvert and if debris is
coming with it, then we have to get the environment guys in, a geotechnical
engineer, a pre-hazard assessment engineer, a civil engineer, a structural
engineer and an environmental consultant to make an application to the Ministry
of Environment — and that’s just for one culvert.”

No concrete or asphalt will be poured until the project
receives a fourth reading and the final go ahead is received from Whistler
Council, which Nadeau expects to happen in early 2007. Even with that timeframe
Nadeau says the goal, “is to have people move into some of the homes for
Christmas 2007.”

The Rainbow development bylaws received third reading in May.
The developers originally hoped to have a fourth reading by the fall of 2006
but that was held up over concerns about the size of the commercial space
allocated to the project, the amount of market housing planned, and servicing
costs for the site.

Nadeau says the commercial core will not be completed until
after the neighbourhood is finished, and developers are not currently in
discussion with any businesses interested in running any of the commercial
businesses slated for the site. Services include a gas station, grocery store,
video store and coffee shop, as well as some limited office space.

The developers will issue a request for proposals when they are
ready to start building the commercial phase, said Nadeau.

Rainbow will include at least 220 resident homes, including 40
units for seniors, and 51 market homes. Still to be decided is whether the
builders will include rental housing.